lager recipe ,two packets of yeast?

[Scott-ayling]

Im in the middle the now of building my boiler for starting BIAB and have found a good recipe for a helles style lager which sounds good , but they reccomended two packets of Saflager W-34/70 now this yeast is almost a fiver a pop is this really neccessary thats nearly a tenner on just the yeast

[Morten]

Yes, you need much more yeast for a lager than for an ale.

So either you scale down your recipe, make a yeast starter or buy two packets.

[boingy]

It depends on your fermentation temperature and your batch size. Bigger batches and/or lower temperatures demand more yeast.
Shopping around for the yeast will save you a bit though:

http://www.worcesterhopshop.co.uk/produ ... ucts_id=94

[Aleman]

If you pitch and ferment cold then 2 or 3 packets of yeast should be considered normal.

If you pitch at 20C and lower the temperature once fermentation has started, you can get away with one packet . . . but then you MUST do a diacetyl rest 2/3 way through fermentation to clean up.

Best practice is to pitch cool, and pitch lots

[seymour]

I agree, yes it's necessary and well worth the expense. No one says you have to brew lagers, but if you choose to do so, count on bigger yeast expenses and fussiness being a part of it.

[Rookie]

Size does matter, the last lager I did was three gallons at 1.050. One pack of 34/70 did a great job.
It was my first use of 34/70; I'll be using it again.

[RdeV]

I've been recovering the wort from kettle trub (also from cube hopping but that's another story) by running it through a sieve/ milk filter, it makes an excellent medium for growing starters- your lagers will definitely benefit from that whereas underpitching is unlikely to be helpful. Making a starter with dried yeast is generally frowned upon in favour of just buying more packets, however sometimes it might be justified.
Recovering wort is a medium- long term proposition and may not help you with this particular issue. In your case you probably don't have any surplus wort, so grab a tin of the cheapest malt extract/ kit and use that to grow up a starter, there's enough malt in one 1.7kg kit for at least half a dozen starters.
You can use the yeastcalc or Mr Malty to give you an idea of the quantities, but I generally use at least 4L wort for lager strains at the initial pitch and the recover the slurry for subsequent pitches. Ales are more forgiving, 2L of wort and either top crop or reuse slurry thereafter.
Caveat: If you're looking to reduce costs, the recovery and reuse of yeast from batch to batch is a must, however I would not recommend it to beginners as there are far too many things to go wrong. There are loads of resources out there to help though, so don't be afraid of it is my advice.

[Gold]

Make a starter - using dry malt extract it costs very little, with excess wort even less.

[Scott-ayling]

Been reading up and watching videos of yeast washing/harvesting and I'm going to try giving that a bash